Resource Allocation in Higher Education: a cultural perspective

Abstract

Changes in national funding methodology and financial pressures on universities during the 1980s and early 1990s have led to a shift towards more market orientated styles of management accompanied by an increase in the adoption of devolved, formula‐based systems of resource allocation at an institutional level. Using recent research at two United Kingdom universities, this article explores first, the way in which such systems can be influenced, not only by the shift towards entrepreneurialism, but also by the relative strength of the traditional cultural models of bureaucracy, collegiality, organised anarchy and politics; and secondly, the way in which the form of methodology adopted can itself influence the balance between those cultural norms. This inter‐relationship between institutional culture and resource allocation systems has significance for the management of institutions. The article therefore concludes by drawing some managerial implications on the basis of the study.